It was supposed to be an easy glide to yet another term for the longtime mayor of this suburb of Chicago. But then Mayor Roger Claar helped throw a fund-raiser for Donald J. Trump and things got complicated. Here is the story of one village election on Tuesday that has become as much about Mr. Trump as the candidates on the ballot.

• The Race: Mayor Claar, 71, an old-school pol, is running for his ninth term, but Jackie Traynere, 54, a labor organizer, is mounting an ambitious challenge.

• Ms. Traynere was so mad about the fund-raising event last fall that she decided to run against Mr. Claar. The Democratic apparatus in Illinois — senators, members of Congress, you name it — is lining up behind her.

• Mayor Claar hasn’t answered our requests for an interview, so we’re hoping to catch up with him today.

* Traynere has sent over a dozen mailers during the campaign. She’s raised over $130K, I’m told, mostly in small contributions.

Several of her mailers are about Claar’s support for Trump in a town which went overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton (click here for one example). Those mailers are designed, I’m told, to catch the interest of voters so that they can move on to other issues, particularly the town’s huge debt (click here for one example).

Claar went over the top here in Bolingbrook. I worked with him lot in my former life as a state employee. He’s a nice guy, but the blind support for Trump was just too much to take and one of the few Reublicans I vote for is losing my vote. His continued defense of his support and his inability to answer policy questions without deflection or strawmen arguments is troubling. I agree with Rocky, that 2018 is going to be a slew of campaign mailers with one-liner sound bites either backing Trump or failing to condemn him.

Shame on the Democratic Party for making a non partisan municipal election partisan. Yes Mayor Claar as a Republican is involved in County, State and Nstional elections but he is a non-partisan Mayor in Bolingbrook doing what is best for Bolingbrook, not any party. The State and National governments are a good example of what partisan politics provide - chaos. We don’t want that in local government. Boling ngbrook will retain the person who has made Bolingbrook the wonderful and nationally recognized city it is - Mayor Roger Claar.

Take a Look at the BOE filings, it appears she is getting funding from SEIU, Bill Foster and Bernie Sanders and a few other heavy hitters ( one individual to the tune of $6500 = 5%, not a bunch of small contributors. Soft money has not been reported yet but you can bet its going to reflect more of the same all those negative mailers are costly and she has a paid staff and walkers too. You can’t run a race with constant negative campaign pieces like that on $130K.

Same strory different party. But that is where the difference shows. In this case the candidate is backed by union money, the GOPers are backed by Proft or Rauner. The focus here is much stronger on the latter rather than the former. Any quick search of her D-2 shows the union money and not In what I would call small amounts !

Roger’s an old school dinosaur. Yet, if you’re a longtime Bolingbrook resident, there’s a before/after Roger scenario to review. He’s brought in a lot of business. He’s changed the perception of the town. The trash is picked up on time, the streets are plowed and in excellent shape. He’s a regular at every HS football and basketball game. He’s paranoid about making certain resident issues are dealt with quickly and efficiently. He’s generous to every organization in town. He promotes every organization in town. He’s never been secretive about his GOP leanings (on the contrary, he’s somewhat obnoxious about it).

He shares the wealth and the pie and makes sure it gets spread around. An Egotist? Oh yeah. Loves his own voice? More than anyone. Acts like a big shot? Yep, right out of Central Casting.

A Mayor who takes care of his town? Better than just about anyone else and legendary for it. Heck, just ask him.

Watching this race it has been turned into the carpetbagger vs the long term mayor. This is a local, non-partisan race that has turned into a microcosm of what to expect in ‘18. Fortunately for the Mayor he has a loyal following. This loyal following are charged up because of the outside influences that have nothing to do with the happenings of Bolingbrook.

I was going to say, $500K sounds a little low to me. He’s had far more in the past. He has used it to very generously support every organization in the community over decades. Even many of the people who don’t like him..want him to be their mayor. That town is truly a Tale of Two Cities between before Roger and now.

The energy behind Traynor’s race is not unions, but from the whole wave of newly active women’s groups, anti-political-establishment millennials, and Trump resistors. She has a lot of truly grassroots support in terms of boots on the ground. This race is more a test of the new grassroots activism on the left, than it is a regular contest of Dems v GOP.